5 Pieces of Advice

The four C's of Web 2.0/Social technologies are: conversation, content creation, collaboration, and community. I think Meredith Farker's discussion hit on all 4 of these and then probably the most important one. The recognition of the importance of the 4 C's. I work with high school students and they spend an inordinate amount of time on the internet engaging in exactly those occupations, conversation, content creation and collaboration and they've created an incredible community. We may scoff at "all those kids gaming" or "wasting their time on Facebook" but if that's all we see in their activities then we are missing the entire point. What the students have created aside from games and Facebook profiles is a lasting, supportive, network of like-minded individuals, in other words a community that they "live" in just as much as the day-to-day physical world. Therefore, if we want the library to be relevant to them in anyway then we must also create a community where they are allowed to engage in conversation, create content, and collaborate with us. By turning our library webpages into interactive social spaces where students can make comments, share information regarding materials, build subject guides together, create tag clouds, and make suggestions then we can create a sense of ownership. The sense that the library truly belongs to them. Too often, the library, as a physical, and a virtual space is a place where students will drop in for a few minutes (if we're lucky) and then leave as soon as possible. What I want, and work hard to develop is a physical space where my students want to hang out. There is no reason I shouldn't also create a virtual space where they want to hang out. While providing access to our collections and databases is of utmost importance it should be equally important to provide our students with easy access to news, book reviews, instant reference services, feedback from fellow students, as well as study tips, suggestions, and reference tips from other students who may have had to complete similar work for classes. Schools are a rich trove of information from all sources, if the library can establish a true community then all students will be able to share in the collective knowledge of the entire campus. You cannot find a more intellectually stimulating and rewarding environment than that.

The other part of the discussion I appreciated was the acknowledgment that not all library patrons are going to adopt web 2.0 and other computer technologies so it's equally important for librarians to find new and innovative ways to serve patrons that are not related to computer technologies. Meredith pointed out that any new system implemented in a library in response to patron need is a 2.0 idea. The most important part is that we are paying attention, trying to understand our patients needs and then responding to those perceived needs. We are so concerned with keeping up in technology to stay relevant that it can be easy to forget that not all of our patrons are driven by technology and we must help all of our patrons regardless of the level of their need. Good collection development, and access that is logical and easily understandable is still the most important access of our profession. It's just that, now, we have a lot more tools available to allow us to expand our profession in new and exciting ways.